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Microsoft Temporarily Suspends Availability of Windows 10 Builds

Mark Wilson writes: If you haven't already downloaded Windows 10 build 10162 or 10166, you're now too late. Microsoft has suspended the availability of these two builds — previously available on the Slow and Fast rings respectively — in the run up to the big launch day in a couple of weeks' time. As we edge closer and closer to the RTM build of Windows 10, Microsoft is now asking Windows Insiders to stick with the build they currently have installed for the time being. Anyone who hasn't upgraded to these latest preview builds is out of luck. As well as disabling upgrading through Windows Update, Microsoft is also suspending ISOs and activation.

106 comments

  1. Dammit by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I botched up my disk drive's EFI partition while trying to install Windows 10. By the time I resolve all my problems, I may not be able to activate the damn install!

    --
    There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
    1. Re:Dammit by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I botched up my disk drive's EFI partition while trying to install Windows 10. By the time I resolve all my problems, I may not be able to activate the damn install!

      Fortunately you weren't trying out a beta on your production machine, so the two weeks without Win10 won't matter, right?

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
    2. Re:Dammit by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 0, Troll

      Just install Linux.

      --

      Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

      Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    3. Re:Dammit by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      More like messing around with a personal machine I didn't want to lose the customizations or data from the past month. More flying by my ass than I would have liked in hindsight; less flying by my ass than the worst possible case I could have exposed myself to.

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
    4. Re:Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      I am a long time Linux User and hardcore video gamer i have 4 desktops 2 laptops 1 sever (win home server 2011/freeNAS for backups and media streaming) all dual booting *nix/Win, but i have to admit Win 10 is real sleek and shiny, runs fast and works well, is backwards compatible as always with Windblows and i am finally looking forward to upgrading all my Win 7 machines when it is released.

    5. Re:Dammit by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 3, Funny

      "My head hurts!"

      "Try smashing a toe with a hammer!"

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    6. Re:Dammit by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 1

      Someone with a sense of humor. Thanks for replying.

      --

      Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

      Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    7. Re:Dammit by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 1

      So you're not going to install Linux, is that what you are saying?

      --

      Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

      Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    8. Re: Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >long time Linux User
      >win home server 2011

    9. Re:Dammit by mlts · · Score: 1

      I think everyone reading this is has been in that boat sometime or another. The only thing that might have helped was to run a wbadmin backup of your personal machine (at least the hard drive with the Windows partition) so you can boot OS media and reload the entire drive fairly quickly if you encounter any bumps.

    10. Re:Dammit by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      Activation isn't important at this stage. The RTM version will be out long before the Activation protection kicks in.

    11. Re:Dammit by ArcadeMan · · Score: 0

      Not on his gaming machine, I think not.

    12. Re:Dammit by dissy · · Score: 1

      Fortunately you weren't trying out a beta on your production machine, so the two weeks without Win10 won't matter, right?

      If course it matters, it's a beta! Duh.

      That's two weeks of lost beta testing and compatibility verification with your companies software and existing infrastructure. That's potentially another two week delay in being able to successfully deploy it.

      It may not matter much or a lot, but it certainly does matter.

      In my case it only slightly matters, but I only have 45 days remaining of my free license for the new version of our ERP client I'm testing for compatibility.
      Now I admit I already ran into a couple show-stopper bugs with the ERP client, so I already know we won't be deploying in the next three months. But had those issues not already come up that would be roughly a third of my testing window gone.

      You only don't think it doesn't matter and not care right up until something critical doesn't work, then you will complain I didn't do enough testing :P

    13. Re:Dammit by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I think everyone reading this is has been in that boat sometime or another.

      Nah, in my case, it was my own damn fault. I should have been more familiar with EFI/UEFI issues before starting. I've been a long time linuxer, so I was counting on my outdated MBR/dualbooting and ntfsclone dumps to get me through. The first snag was that Windows 10 would not install on my secondary drive for some reason, because it already had an EFI partition, which somehow made it unsuitable for booting. (I know this may sound incorrect to some; I'm just relating my first hand experience.) It was the relative sluggishness of the Windows install menu that made me accidentally delete a partition important to my OS drive and then hilarity ensued...

      wbadmin backup? You're talking 8.1, right? Nope, windows 7 here at home. Yeah, I've been able to mount all my intact partitions, so I haven't lost data, but I'm working on repairing EFI partitions and restoring the relevant hidden system drive dump to the correct partition. Actually, I was doing the book learning I should have done before attempting anything, and then Microsoft now "mentions" they're shutting down the preview activations.

      Well, I've mentioned elsewhere that I was able to get my 10162 build installed & activated today (different machine), so one day soon I'll be back to square one.

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
    14. Re:Dammit by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 1

      If you want any copy of any Windows OS to work beyond 30 days, it has to be "activated" by Microsoft's licensing servers. I have no idea if my preview build has/had a 30 day clock; it may have had a 0 day clock. Was it a big deal? No, but given the fuzziness of the "free" Windows 10 license with a VALID Windows OS install, I wanted to preserve the freebie Windows 10 license that would be mine by installing the Insider preview.

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
    15. Re: Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For men, staying virgin is pretty good advice these days. Feminism has poisoned the well quite a bit.

    16. Re:Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Not on his gaming machine, I think not.

      Almost at 2000 linux games... more than many consoles.

    17. Re:Dammit by ArcadeMan · · Score: 0

      More than failed consoles but it still pales compared to a Windows box.

    18. Re:Dammit by armanox · · Score: 1

      Personally I've found Windows 10 to be quite slow on lower end hardware compared to Windows 7 and 8. Moves slow as can be on Pentium M era hardware (and that's with a full 2 GB RAM. I haven't tested it on Core 2 style hardware yet, simply haven't had the time.

      --
      I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
    19. Re:Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RTM is in 2 weeks. last time I checked 2 weeks is a lot less than 30 days, so worst case scenario you have a few features locked out till you upgrade if it was over 2 weeks ago you did the install.

    20. Re: Dammit by TomH123 · · Score: 0

      What is"fuzzy" about it? Microsoft has stated that as long as you stay on the insider program after RTM you can continue to run your free version. If you no longer wish to din a beta version you will either need to purchase a copy or upgrade a version of 7 or 8/8.1 within the year for free. After the year is up you'll have to pay for a copy.

    21. Re:Dammit by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Should have did like I did and grab a cheapo SSD to test Win 10 on. I fired it up, played with it for a few hours and then found out one of my favorite games don't work (War Thunder, no sound, a common issue with certain gaming boards it turns out) so all I had to do was pop off the side and swap SSDs. I was back up and running inside of 5 minutes like it never happened and once they have the game updated so it works with Win 10 I can always pop it back in, no risk.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    22. Re:Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wbadmin has been a part of Windows since Vista...

    23. Re:Dammit by Wolfrider · · Score: 1

      > I should have been more familiar with EFI/UEFI issues before starting. I've been a long time linuxer, so I was counting on my outdated MBR/dualbooting and ntfsclone dumps to get me through.

      --Could you please recommend a good link/resource to learn more about EFI/UEFI? TIA...

      --
      .
      == WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
    24. Re:Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      FYI, Build 162 and Build 166, War Thunder sound works fine again.
      Before those builds, if you launched War Thunder from an admin Powershell, the sound would work too.

    25. Re:Dammit by rioki · · Score: 1

      Install 10074... It's sufficiently stable and will weather you over the two weeks.

    26. Re:Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think everyone reading this is has been in that boat sometime or another.

      Nah, in my case, it was my own damn fault. I should have been more familiar with EFI/UEFI issues before starting. I've been a long time linuxer, so I was counting on my outdated MBR/dualbooting and ntfsclone dumps to get me through. The first snag was that Windows 10 would not install on my secondary drive for some reason, because it already had an EFI partition, which somehow made it unsuitable for booting. (I know this may sound incorrect to some; I'm just relating my first hand experience.) It was the relative sluggishness of the Windows install menu that made me accidentally delete a partition important to my OS drive and then hilarity ensued...

      wbadmin backup? You're talking 8.1, right? Nope, windows 7 here at home. Yeah, I've been able to mount all my intact partitions, so I haven't lost data, but I'm working on repairing EFI partitions and restoring the relevant hidden system drive dump to the correct partition. Actually, I was doing the book learning I should have done before attempting anything, and then Microsoft now "mentions" they're shutting down the preview activations.

      Well, I've mentioned elsewhere that I was able to get my 10162 build installed & activated today (different machine), so one day soon I'll be back to square one.

      Linux is infinitely better right now than every version of Windows combined. Windows has always made you jump through hoops to install where you wanted to if it wasn't first partition of first drive. It doesn't play nice with other Operating Systems either. Not co-existing on system drives, not anything.

      distrowatch.com .. their motto has always been right. "Put the fun back into computing".

    27. Re:Dammit by Ramze · · Score: 1

      I'm looking forward to seeing how well it works on a Core 2 Duo laptop. Thanks to some updates to VLC, I'm actually able to play 1080p movies on the old laptop connected to the TV. It taxes the system - mostly b/c of an old GPU, though. It's ever on the threshold of being taken to the recycling center should it fail to perform its duties.

      If Win10 is slower, then the machine is done for -- unless I give it new life with Linux Mint or Cubuntu.

      I already recycled a Pentium IV machine because it couldn't handle 720p. It's a sad day when I can't find a use for a perfectly working (more or less) machine.

    28. Re:Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you, or did Windows do that to you? Yesterday's update of Windows 10 delete the Linux partition on my toy computer.

    29. Re:Dammit by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 1

      Did you, or did Windows do that to you?

      I did, using the Windows partition tool in the "advanced" disk management menu.

      Yesterday's update of Windows 10 delete the Linux partition on my toy computer.

      That will probably become news on Phoronix or The Register, if that's the case. I'm inclined to beleive you're either mistaken, or something other than a Windows 10 update did that.

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
    30. Re:Dammit by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      Works fine with Core 1 Duo / GMA950.

    31. Re:Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Linux is infinitely better right now than every version of Windows combined.

      I agree, but...

      Windows has always made you jump through hoops to install where you wanted to if it wasn't first partition of first drive.

      Some distros are worse than Windoze. I tried to install CentOS about a year ago, and it wouldn't even install onto my multi-partition disk. It didn't matter whether the partitions existed pre-install, or if I let the installer create them. It would not install using the partition setup that I wanted it to use.

    32. Re:Dammit by armanox · · Score: 1

      I'm interested to see what happens when it switches to RTM - I wonder if debugging stuff and all that is slowing it down because of it being a "testing" build. Regardless, it reminds me of testing Windows Vista on my Pentium M laptop (and I only had 512MB RAM in it back then vs the 2GB now!), and at 2GB of RAM Windows 7 and 8 both ran a lot better in their CTP stages.

      --
      I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
    33. Re:Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fortunately you weren't trying out a beta on your production machine, so the two weeks without Win10 won't matter, right?

      Remember, the consumer versions of Windows 10 will apply whatever patches Microsoft comes out with, as soon as they're published, with no option to turn that behavior off. It's like continuous integration, except every Windows 10 user in the world is part of the unit tests. Considering Microsoft laid off most/all of its QA team last year, and Windows Updates for stable versions of the OS have routinely been fucking up large subsets of users' computers to the point of BSOD/blackscreen loops, I wouldn't touch Windows 10 with a 40-foot CAT5 cable.

    34. Re:Dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Linux is infinitely better right now than every version of Windows combined.

      That depends on what you want to do with it, in most cases the opposite is true. Linux is bloating while Windows is slimming down (the latest version has requirements less than the versions that preceded to it all the way back nearly a decade) whilst not losing functionality in its ability to run applications (which is what users do).

      distrowatch.com .. their motto has always been right. "Put the fun back into computing".

      Agreed that if you want to hack around and experiment with an operating system then Linux is probably the best choice but if you want something functional to get stuff done then you need an operating system that serves its primary purpose which is to run the applications you need to run. In the majority of cases (talking desktop use cases) this means Windows or OSX.

  2. Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM build.. by mlts · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In the past, there were last minute "gotchas" which MS tossed in right before a build went RTM. In the antediluvian past, it was removing direct MS-DOS access in Windows ME, with XP, it was the Secure Audio Path (which was a DRM stack which required all audio drivers to be signed, in order to prevent programs like TuneBite from existing.)

    I wonder what is going to be tossed in at the last minute. Hopefully nothing too headache-forming.

  3. Guess I'll have to stick with windows 7 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    or even xp :)

  4. Why is this news exactly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems like a fairly standard operation before a big release. I'm guessing it will be fairly temporary as well.

  5. Reading Is FUNdamental... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The summary is quite wrong.

    Microsoft is asking people to receive the next update via the same channel that they'll eventually use (in a few weeks) to push the operating system to retail users. They didn't say that there would not be more builds (in fact, they explicitly said that there would be). The whole point is to test out the new distribution channel.

    1. Re:Reading Is FUNdamental... by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 2

      Then why cease validating build 10162? Immediately shutdown downloading the test ISOs, and warn that they'll stop validating any "old" windows 10 releases in three days.

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
    2. Re:Reading Is FUNdamental... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      probably because they are basically at the stage where they are now in final death march to release, that means no new bugs to be worked on that aren't showstoppers and they don't see a lot of Value in people deploying and testing new Beta copies just days before the final build will be available. why keep activating new beta installs when you are about to provide an RTM build. Anyone that didn't already have a valid install probably isn't going to be adding much to the process.

    3. Re:Reading Is FUNdamental... by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 1

      Microsoft achieves the same result by cutting off the ISO downloads. The "panic" activations probably would be under 10K. I understand the attitude Microsoft would have toward evaluator value, but its kind of "rude/abrupt" to slam the door without any advanced warning.

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
  6. at M$, freeze is for the users ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when near a release, it's quite normal to freeze the feature and iron the bug well flat, but at M$, they do it "the other" way : they freeze the upgrade not for the developpers, but for the users, that are then blocked from even using the software, or to get security updates... that's sure, with M$, you're in some behind the mirror world... (but maybe not on the free side of the glass pannel ;) )

  7. Re:Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM buil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Any other examples from 15 years ago?

    When I was 10, I was rude to my parents. I wonder if I'll call my Dad a bastard tomorrow?

  8. Re:Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM buil by PRMan · · Score: 0

    So, their strategy is to NOT test the last-minute fixes?!? What could possibly go wrong?

    --
    Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
  9. Re:Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM buil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remind me, how many times have they changed CEOs since then?

  10. mod parent up - fuck windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    srsly you let microsoft sock puppets top post on Linux articles, yet you mod down the opposite. this place really is turning into shit.

    1. Re:mod parent up - fuck windows by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 1

      Seriously - no sense of humor at all in Slashdot anymore. Conform citizen!

      --

      Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

      Vote for Bernie in 2016!

  11. 10162 available here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-iso

    1. Re:10162 available here by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 2

      1) Its probably not available. If its available, it won't be soon.

      2) I already had a copy of build 10162. The problem is that the Insider blog mentioned that Microsoft would NOT be activating 10162 builds anymore.

      3) It still activated for me today. But the experience was odd. When I ran the initial install, it hung at "Please wait for a moment". I was certain that it was hung because Microsoft was not validating build 10162 anymore (sic). Of course, I waited for 30 minutes, and then rebooted. It then displayed a "login" (activation, whatever you want to call it), asking for my "insider" account (which is basically linked to your Windows Outlook account, provided you had already successfully applied for an insider account). The install appears to be complete, and working as expected.

      If you care about having a working copy of Windows 10 (beta) for the next two weeks, install/activate 10162 now. I doubt it will work if you're not already registered with the Windows Insider program. I don't know if it (build 10162) will activate if you try installation tomorrow.

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
  12. Re:Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM buil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you fire all of your QA, you don't plan to test anyway. So, what's the difference?

  13. IT'S TO LATE TO DOWNLOAD A BOOT SECTOR VIRUS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why would anybody put Winblows on a box? Unless you need Visio...(and maybe a few other one use apps)...then Winblows should be avoided like a plague! Give it a few years...MS is coming around...as I have said before...MS will have their own Linux distro!

    1. Re:IT'S TO LATE TO DOWNLOAD A BOOT SECTOR VIRUS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      today I have a wonderful experience with the original windows 8, what a blast it was to look at the screen after a install, right away windows update refused to install updates crying and spewing errors on a brand new os, just another day in the new normal, if windows looks/works like this today i just wonder what they may cook in the near future..

  14. Re:Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM buil by mlts · · Score: 2

    I hope this is the case, and I'm proven brain-dead wrong. MS hasn't really pulled any real "fast ones" recently. W10 looks like it will be the next Windows 7 or XP.

    As for OS releases, MS's real interesting OS release will be Server 2016. I'm guessing MS is going to wait and see what bugs pop up with W10, get them fixed before WS2016 goes out the door (which is a wise move.)

    WS2016 is (for me that is) the one to watch, especially the added virtualization and container capabilities. I wonder how many places will be using the Docker capabilities once that gets out onto servers.

  15. Lost track of Sequence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let's see: Windows 3.1 was ok. Win95 sucked. Win98 good. WinME sucked. WinXP great. WinVista sucked. Win7 good. Win8...yeah what about Win8? And what happened to Win9? And now Win10? WTF??!!!

    (I think I'll stick with Win7.)

    1. Re:Lost track of Sequence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Let's see: Windows 3.1 was ok. Win95 sucked. Win98 good. WinME sucked. WinXP great. WinVista sucked. Win7 good. Win8...yeah what about Win8? And what happened to Win9? And now Win10? WTF??!!!

      Let me correct you a bit..

      Windows 3 (3.1, workgroups) = Great OS for the Time
      Windows 95 (a, b, c) = A huge leap forward but very buggy
      Windows 98 (rel, SE) = Great but buggy
      Windows ME = Useless
      Windows 2000 = Excellent OS for the time.
      Windows XP = Great
      Windows Vista = Great if you had decent driver support.. (the OS was great, was communicability/driver issues people had.)
      Windows 7 = Best release to date
      Windows 8 (rel, 8.1) = A lesson learned on not listening to the community.
      Windows 10 = Good, it's what windows 8 should have been.

      As for windows 9, it's been stated several times they would not name of for various 3rd party code comparability reasons.

      if(version.StartsWith("Windows 9"))
      { /* 95 and 98 */
      } else {

    2. Re:Lost track of Sequence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      98 sucked until the "second edition".

    3. Re:Lost track of Sequence by JMJimmy · · Score: 0

      Vista was crap. Driver issues aside, they simply screwed it up early on and it wasn't until about 18-24 months later, once they patched the code that was causing major bottlenecks, that the system started to stabilize. It was a clusterfuck before then.

      Windows 7 is not without its issues either. There was an incredibly simple paradigm that let me teach "how to use a computer" to the computer illiterate: Left click selects (ie focus), right click gives you the options (ie: context), and double click starts things (ie: executes).

      Vista botched this and it's been steadily getting worse with each successive release. Now it matters where you right click to get context, left clicking sometimes executes sometimes selects sometimes does nothing, focus is 'sort of given' on simply mousing over but if you right click it doesn't consistently give you the right context of a 'sort of in focus item'. Don't even get me started on the 'sort of focus' + 'actual focus' + context button inconsistencies. Then there's the oddities, like doing a multi-select - sometimes it drags, sometimes it multi-selects, mostly though if the first item has 'actual focus' you cannot start a multi-select on that item without first de-selecting it or going to the keyboard. If you multi-select and right click an "empty space" outside the multi-select you lose your multi-select, the first item selected or last item "used" gets a 3rd kind of focus, and you get a default context menu but if you do an identical such space inside the multi-select you get a completely different context menu.

      There are consistencies but they are so fractured and so many that it becomes impossible to know what's going to happen when you perform identical actions in slightly different contexts.

      Then there's the mess that is USB. I constantly bump into the problem that devices won't work unless I either put them in the last port used or manually tell Windows to forget about the device. I'm sure that's partly my fault for not selecting the "safely remove device" option but how hard is it to set a timer to check for the presence of a device that was plugged in and if it's not there/not responding, delete it from the registry.

      I could go on but chances are you'll find reasons why my problems are not really problems and I should just get used to it. Problem is, I don't like bad functionality. I can put up with bad visual design as long as it works intuitively, consistently, and without special knowledge. I cannot say that of anything Microsoft has put out since XP.

    4. Re:Lost track of Sequence by ihtoit · · Score: 0

      from what I actually used:

      3.1: was just bizarre. Although at the time I wasn't particularly interested in what was actually running the machine, I was more interested in nbody physics simulations in GWBASIC! For which I'd more often than not restart in DOS mode with a custom config to maximise available conventional/upper memory. Oh, the days when you had to literally hack your way to a usable configuration!
      95 Gold: was a pile of shit, but there again that's probably because I was running it in a 4MB memory space and trying to run WordPerfect as well. Didn't even notice the Start menu as an innovation.
      95 OEM SR2: was the first time I ever saw IE. I didn't like it then, switched immediately to Netscape. USB plugin was shit, hardly anything worked.
      98SE: was quiiiick! 48MB of RAM by this time, and a 2GB hard drive, oh your $deity, I was in heaven. IE hadn't improved, still using Netscape. Cut my teeth on PC gaming with a 98SE box and Quake.
      2000: was even quicker than 98SE. On the same hardware, I was running processes on top of processes, I could not get the thing to fall over.
      Tried ME for a week. Went back to 2K.
      xp: I didn't bother with until SP1 came out, I wasn't keen on the shiny shit, not least because I would've had to upgrade my hardware which I didn't have the cash for when xp was actually released. I've always fallen back to the 2K look and feel for xp and 7 because a: I'm used to it, b: I like it and c: my computer should be working not caking itself in enough paint to drown a baby whale.
      Vista: never had this on my own machines but I've had passing experience with it, I found it dog ugly and dog slow.
      7: my workstation OS of choice. It's (pretty) stable, very fast and can handle pretty much anything I throw at it. Only bugbear I have is the fact that if I manage to consume all the RAM (often, given the nature of what I do, even considering I've got 8GB in here) the system bugchecks. Never had an out of memory bugcheck on any other system I've used apart from 7.
      8: my son has 8 on his laptop, I think it's unintuitive, slow and ugly. That isn't going NEAR my computers.

      --
      Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
    5. Re:Lost track of Sequence by Timex · · Score: 1

      I bought a laptop (Core2-Duo CPU, 2MB RAM) that came with Vista shortly after Vista was released. I actually liked it, and that's saying something when you consider that every single Microsoft OS has let me down at one time or another. It seemed to me that most of the people that didn't like Vista were trying to run it on systems that were optimized for XP.

      I now have Windows 7 on all my gaming systems (long story, i'm all about using the right tool for the job), and I'm considering Win10.

      --
      When politicians are involved, everyone loses.
    6. Re:Lost track of Sequence by JMJimmy · · Score: 1

      My roommate bought one that came with Vista in 2007, it had better specs, and she would swear at it non-stop because it would always be running something in the background/slow doing nothing but word processing. Does my anecdote trump yours?

      I'm on Win8.1, I'd upgrade to Win7 if I could, Win10 isn't touching my system until I can confirm without a doubt that it doesn't suck as much as Win8.1. If that's the case, it'll get installed but no way am I subscribing to the yearly release Microsoft wants. My next system will be Microsoft free.

  16. Re: Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM bui by binarylarry · · Score: 0

    I've been using the tech preview and its a shit pile, it would be amazing if Microsoft managed to turn that garbage barge around in a few weeks time.

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  17. Had problems with 10162 anyway... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I had the update, but it flat broke a few things that were previously working just fine. Most notably VMWare tools were broken. I couldn't connect to any network device, and mirrored folders no longer worked properly. Rolling back fixed the issues.

  18. Downloading 10162 right now?? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2

    My hunch is MS does not want piracy.

    Since I am grandfathered in with the insider program I can download. I am doing this now so I have a free VM image for my labs as MS made it clear it is a free upgrade for registered as well as beta fresh installs as a thank you for the insider program.

    I can't wait until it updates to RTM and I can finally get RSAT tools to make it useful as a virtual joined computer. In the meantime I am stuck with time bombed versions of 8.1 for the labs. 10 being light and EFI means very light resources and fast boot times :-)

  19. Re:Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM buil by Billly+Gates · · Score: 0

    SSH too will be SWEET and a must have too in any enterprise environment with security needs. To have powershell, remote desktop, and perhaps even AD SMB communication encrypted will prevent devices any hacker can plug into an electrical socket and 0wn the network or put in ransom where at the AD schema level.

    Server 2012 is a hefty upgrade too with schema deletion restoration, WinRM, compression of AD/SMB traffic for slow WAn links, Powershell Desired state configuration templates SSD tier to raids for caching, no gui installs, make that one a much bigger upgrade from 2008 than 2008 was to 2003.

    2016 with more containers with docks and encryption might just get those on 2008 R2 forests the reasons for upgrading

  20. Anybody else diapointed with the "start menu"? by denis-The-menace · · Score: 2

    I saw it on a coworkers machine and we were both disappointed.

    The whole endless list menu is way too long.
    Love the Single Letters too to make it longer still. /S

    If this was a tablet Ok fine but this is gonna cause training issues.

    --
    Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
    1. Re:Anybody else diapointed with the "start menu"? by Pope+Hagbard · · Score: 1

      Fortunately Classic Shell still works on Win10 and it's even targeted for support by same.

    2. Re:Anybody else diapointed with the "start menu"? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      If you are on the desktop mode, click on the bidirectional / arrow on the top right corner, and it will collapse to almost a Windows 7 like menu, except for the icons still being large. I hope there will be a way to shrink that

    3. Re:Anybody else diapointed with the "start menu"? by antdude · · Score: 1

      Yep, I was disappointed with it at work too. I'll stick with W7. Even Mac OS X and Linux are disappointing these days. Or maybe I'm old. :(

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  21. Re: Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM bui by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This just in: Well known Linux zealot and anti-Microsoft troll previews Windows 10, calls it shit. News at 11.

  22. yes, ISO download still works, for now by quenda · · Score: 3, Informative

    Works for me too, and outside the browser, so no cookies needed.

    wget http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink...

    Windows 10 Insider Preview (x64) - Build 10162
      Download (3.86 GB)
    SHA-1 hash: C1C08D22876F45444880275D26CB5ECB8347620B

    http://windows.microsoft.com/e...

    1. Re:yes, ISO download still works, for now by ihtoit · · Score: 1

      holy hell, I'm getting 72MBit off that first link!

      --
      Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
    2. Re:yes, ISO download still works, for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just downloaded the file from the first link and i get the SHA-1 31346458255afeac1afeed5c4c61f15d57708b9b .

      Who's correct here? Google seems to go both ways... :(

    3. Re:yes, ISO download still works, for now by quenda · · Score: 1

      Sorry, I gave the hash for the Proper English version, but link for the US English. Nice to see someone actually checks those things :-)

    4. Re:yes, ISO download still works, for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Prouper English version

      FTFY

  23. Build 10224. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just got build 10224. And it activated. So it's not done by any means. This article is moot. And it activated.

    1. Re:Build 10224. by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 1

      It was build 10162 and previous that Microsoft was going to turn off the activations. They did not say that "fast ring" evaluators were going to have any problem with activations. Thus, your 10224 build works fine. (The issue is moot for me, because I got my install activated anyway; just not on the machine I intended.)

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
  24. Re:Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM buil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hmmm, was your dad born out of wedlock too? Aren't you afraid he might finally throw you out? Are you trying to make the argument that you shouldn't argue like a 10 year old? By arguing like a 10 year old?
    Anyway, I have to give you points for trying to defend Microsoft on this troll site. These hardcore Linux guys are going to see a lot of deserters finally jumping over to windows - especially since windows decided not to use systemd.

  25. Agree to disagree. by clay_buster · · Score: 1

    The new start menu is pretty nice. "Pin to start" is great. You can go with small or large icons for the pinned apps. The pc mode is improved where you don't have the ridiculous full screen "modern apps" that you have to switch away from with alt-tab or by using hot corners. Hot corners in general are gone. Dual monitor is pretty good. All my devices work. I'm using it on my daily work and home machines. VMWare runs fine on it.

    On the not so good side. It is hard to make search only search my machine and not the internet. You really feel this with a slow connection. Sometimes the start menu will not come up when I hit the windows logo. They kind of dumbed down the windows update making so you can't pick which ones you want now. That may be a good thing for most folks but I don't like it. Settings in general are an ugly mix of modern and classic. Device Manager and some of the Network settings are classic but the tray interfaces are all moder. The Moder App version One Note is confusing. It is even more confusing that you end up with two versions of OneNote if you install office. You can set the zoom / scale differently on multiple monitors but you sometimes get weird font behavior if you drag a window across the monitors.

    It feels like an improvement over ghastly windows 8 , which I previously ran on all machines so I could get task bars on all monitors.

  26. Re:Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM buil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Docker is one of the worst hacks imaginable.

  27. Re: Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM bui by epyT-R · · Score: 4, Informative

    It really is in a lot of ways.

    1. They still have two separate control panels: The windows vista era one, and the one that uses that butt-ugly 'modern UI' that looks and works like something thrown together on linux 15 years ago, complete with badly rendered fonts. They didn't even try to consolidate them either. Fucking idiotic.

    2. The new scheme follows office2013/16's 'all white' mantra, making it hard on the eyes. Like windows vista and up, this is not easily editable. Window metrics are fixed and unchangeable without hacks, like win 8.1.

    3. The start menu is usable again, but still isn't as flexible as previous ones. Startisback++ exists and works fine, but still.

    4. They totally hosed ddraw fullscreen support which breaks a lot of backward compatibility. There's no reason for this either. Hacks that existed for win 8.1 no longer work (disabledwm.exe).

    5. More pointless 'metro' apps that also look like shitty linux X11 from 15 years ago. What's worse is that some of these have replaced traditional windows utilities like calculator.

    These are the issues I've noticed. This list is not meant to be all encompassing.

  28. Skype by unixisc · · Score: 1

    Has anybody tried Skype on Windows 10? Does it work? It crashes the moment I start it up on my Winbook in either tablet or laptop mode

    1. Re:Skype by maxwells_deamon · · Score: 1

      yes it works on the machines that we have run it on. Be aware that there is a modern version and a desktop version. use the desktop version because i think the modern one may be going away and the modern one does not always start for me after a reboot so you can miss messages if you forget to start it.

    2. Re:Skype by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Thanks :)

  29. Re:Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM buil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But TuneBite still exists and claims to work regardless of whether SAP is used.

  30. Re:Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM buil by ihtoit · · Score: 1

    is that what stopped my Sonicstage (which worked flawlessly on Windows 2000) from properly detecting my NetMD on xp?

    --
    Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
  31. Re: Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM bui by ihtoit · · Score: 2

    One major issue which for me means I'll be disabling Windows Update when they EOL 7: NO MEDIA CENTER IN 10.

    Fuck that. I'm sticking with 7.

    --
    Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
  32. my issues by the_Bionic_lemming · · Score: 1

    I'm on 10166 but when I try to launch Visual Studio I get a bad install warning on some of the choices to start it.

    I loaded Steam and tried defense grid 2 but the video drivers aren't working properly.

    Start up and surfing is faster than Ubuntu 14 was on the laptop - so that was an eye opener.

    I hate that windows is moving to type it to find it, I prefer list it and click it.

    I don't want to remember what what I need to use. I want the list of stuff so I can find what I need to use.

    --
    _ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
    1. Re:my issues by kubajz · · Score: 1

      I am really happy that Windows is moving to "type it to find it". That is what I always appreciated about Linux - if you're a serious computer user, typing will always beat the mouse pointer. So new users can still scroll and seek but I will be grateful for the typing - both for apps and my files.

    2. Re:my issues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Windows Vista had it already.

    3. Re:my issues by cbhacking · · Score: 1

      Yeah, "moving to"... a feature that Windows has had since late 2006? Whoo...

      Ever since Start search became available on Windows (Vista betas), using any version of Windows that lacks it is infuriating. I hit the Windows key, type a few letters, hit Enter (all in under a second), and... something random happens, rather than actually launching the program or control panel I identified.

      --
      There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
  33. Strange download by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Strange. I downloaded both the 64 bit and 32 bit builds of 10162 after the Slashdot post from the Windows Insider Program.

  34. Re: Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM bu by TomH123 · · Score: 0

    I've been using Win10 and it's been great. Wonder where you got your copy from for out to be so different?

  35. Re: Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM b by binarylarry · · Score: 1, Redundant

    You probably don't know the difference as a windows user.

    As someone who has to develop on linux, Mac and windows, switching over to my windows partitions or vm env's is like going back in time a decade or more.

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  36. Re:Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM buil by bondsbw · · Score: 1

    I've been trying out the various Technical Previews over the past few months and I'm not surprised that they've pulled the plug on this. There's no way it was going to be ready by the target date of July 29.

    They didn't kill their July 29 RTM date. They suspended new TP builds "briefly", specifically to switch over to using the production channels distribution channels. According to the quote, it sounds likely that they will resume TP builds prior to RTM.

    Considering at one time they averaged 2 months between fast ring releases, any new TP release prior to RTM would be much faster.

    And then there's all the pointless, useless "apps".

    You think that is a recent phenomenon? It's been that way since Windows came into existence.

    It's not that I disagree with you though, the Windows Store is full of crapps. Microsoft has specific plans to crack down hard on those, so I'm going to withhold judgment on the state of the Windows 10 Store until some time after RTM. Also consider that app capabilities will increase due to a larger API set of the UWP and the ability to put Win32 apps in the Windows Store (via Project Centennial).

    --
    All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
  37. Re: Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM bui by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    2. The new scheme follows office2013/16's 'all white' mantra, making it hard on the eyes. Like windows vista and up, this is not easily editable. Window metrics are fixed and unchangeable without hacks, like win 8.1.

    Incorrect. The colour scheme is very easy to edit, just right click on the desktop and select "personalize..." from the menu. Like Windows 8.1, it has a feature where the colour scheme will track the colour scheme of the desktop wallpaper, or you can edit it manually.

    Window metrics scale with DPI and accessibility settings, or as you say you can do some trivial registry edits.

    4. They totally hosed ddraw fullscreen support which breaks a lot of backward compatibility. There's no reason for this either.

    The reason is for high DPI support. If the app doesn't scale it's going to be unusable on a 4k monitor. Sadly, sometimes you have to break broken apps to progress.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  38. Re: Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM bui by jones_supa · · Score: 1

    1. They still have two separate control panels: The windows vista era one, and the one that uses that butt-ugly 'modern UI' that looks and works like something thrown together on linux 15 years ago, complete with badly rendered fonts. They didn't even try to consolidate them either. Fucking idiotic.

    Wait, what? I though they consolidated them late last year already.

  39. Re: Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM bui by Jheaden · · Score: 1

    I'd call it more a case of "work in progress". They both still exist, but more and more settings are moving into the new "modern UI" settings.

    No way they'll have this completely transitioned by RTM (not even sure if they are planning to transition everything)

  40. Boy howdy.... by DG · · Score: 1

    I recently built a Windows 7 box (out of an old Linux box - my how times have changed) and it was a hair pulling, teeth gnashing, ragefest.

    It makes you really appreciate how much help Linux gives you in sorting out weird problems.

    --
    Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
    1. Re:Boy howdy.... by cbhacking · · Score: 1

      For a single-boot install, it's always best to just delete all the partitions and let Windows install to the unpartitioned drive (it will add its own partitions, in fairly sane layout, and you can adjust them later). Obviously that's not an option for multi-boot systems where Windows isn't the first OS you're installing, but for single-boot it has never failed me (and I've run into lots of weird installer / partitioning issues when I tried doing otherwise).

      --
      There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
    2. Re:Boy howdy.... by DG · · Score: 1

      Fresh install on brand new SSD, single-boot. (The mb and other hardware was older, but the drive was new)

      It took several attempts before it took, and I was doing nothing but the defaults.

      --
      Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
  41. You can delay activation by cbhacking · · Score: 1

    Activation can be delayed on Windows at least twice. It's kind of hidden but is supported. Lets you have sort of a trial period.

    Open a root prompt (cmd, powershell, whatever).
    slmgr[.vbs] /rearm
    Reboot (shutdown /r /t 0 if you want to use the command line for that too).

    The slmgr (Software Licensing Manager) script, and its rearm flag, is documented here: https://technet.microsoft.com/...

    --
    There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
  42. Re: Wonder what MS might be adding for the RTM bui by epyT-R · · Score: 1

    Selecting from a few predefined themes and colors is hardly flexible compared to past editions of windows. I shouldn't have to edit the registry to get rid of all that white space (and color) either. Those themes also don't affect the majority of the window, which stays white. The metrics are also not editable in the GUI either, and the defaults are terrible. Sure, the 'high contrast' themes are there, but they don't resolve the metrics issue, are much more limited in what can be colored, and all of this requires editing text files and hoping they don't get clobbered. If you're working on a domain controlled machine, forget it, you're stuck with white on white hell (or green and black hell).

    In-window ddraw seems to work fine, it's full screen that doesn't. If it's trivial to scale the UI with the gpu, then it's trival to scale ddraw buffers, or just honor the exclusive video mode switch like past windows editions (even windows 8.1 disables dwm while doing this). Whether it's 4k,2k, or 640x480, d3d and opengl applications' requests are honored, so why not ddraw? Better yet, make these scaling options toggles in an advanced pane. Of course, this solution is anathema to the U'X' hipsters running things now.